Vehicle

2001 Chrysler Town and Country Limited AWD 4dr Minivan (3.8L 6cyl 4A)

Review

We just got this van in January of 2011. It had been owned by my husbands brother since it was new and has only 37,000 miles on it. For most of it's 10 years of life, it sat in a mountain town of Colorado. Nevertheless, when we got it, the back tailgate door would not open automatically and the side doors work sporadically. The main cup holder in the front is broken, and 2 days ago the AC started hissing and now has stopped working entirely. I am taking it in to the mechanic tomorrow, and hope it just needs recharging. How could the compressor be shot at only 37,000 miles? My husband and I have been hit hard by the recession, so we hope to be able to get many miles out of this van.

Best Features

Worst Features

Gas mileage is terrible for this size vehicle. We had a '97 Dodge Caravan, and the gas mileage was significantly better. Not sure why the Dodge and Chrysler would be so different.
6 disc CD changer. Since this van is a 2001, it only has a single disc changer and has a cassette player. I know everyone uses iPods now, but I still like to use CD's.

Some components on vehicles (pumps, electric motors, and hydraulic mechanisms, etc.) can have problems when they sit up for extended periods of time without use. We had a 2001 Windstar that was a beach vehicle/third vehicle for years and kept in a garage getting driven only about 6 times a year in weeklong trips- it only has 72,000 miles on it and really didnt start getting driven as a daily car until the last two years.
It had all sorts of trouble with the power door locks and window motors at around the 45,000 mile mark. You wouldnt think that a vehicle would have any problems at that low a mileage kept in a controlled environment, but it did and it was only components with electric motors- everything else on the van is in pristine working condition.
I have had other cars though that have sat in open weather environments for months on end and would crank up after months and months of sitting and everything worked fine for years, so it may be an engineering problem.
RV's are the same way.
People who buy them but dont really use them regularly tend to have trouble with the some of the similar components.
Hopefully, once you start driving the vehicle regularly and get the quirky problems fixed it will turn out to be a good van for you.